Europe still struggling – but signs of hope?

European countries have seen steep rises in cases and deaths, but slowing infection rates are raising hopes that strict social distancing measures are curbing the spread of the virus.

Italy has the highest toll outside the US, with more than 21,000 deaths so far, but recent data shows the infection rate is slowing.

The country was the first in Europe to record a large number of deaths and has been in lockdown since 9 March, though some quarantine measures are now starting to be relaxed.

Spain – which has more than 18,000 deaths – has also started to ease lockdown measures this week amid signs that the rate of new infections had been falling.

However new cases rose by more than 5,000 on Wednesday – the highest increase in five days – and the EU has warned member states to be cautious when easing restrictions.

In the UK, there have been more than 98,000 confirmed cases and more than 12,000 deaths.

Like Spain, deaths in the UK grew rapidly at first, doubling faster than every two days. That rate of increase has now slowed but the government has not yet indicated that restrictions are about to be lifted.

Germany has said it will start easing its lockdown from 20 April, with smaller shops allowed to re-open and schools to follow gradually from 4 May.

The German government warned on Wednesday that its economy – Europe’s largest – could contract by almost 10% as a result of the crisis.

The global economy faces the worst recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s , the International Monetary Fund has said.

New York is epicentre of US outbreak

With more than 600,000 cases, the US has the highest number of confirmed infections in the world. The number of deaths now stands at more than 26,000, and the rate is doubling about every three days at present.

The state of New York has more cases than anywhere else in the world, and there have been almost 8,000 deaths in New York City alone.

Despite these grim statistics, New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo says cases are starting to level off as the effect of social-distancing measures begins to be seen.

Nearly all Americans are now living under some form of lockdown as states increase efforts to curb the outbreak.

Federal coronavirus guidelines, which include social distancing, will be in place across the country until at least 30 April.

The outbreak is having a major economic impact, with figures showing the number of people making a new claim for unemployment benefits surging to a record high of more than 6.6 million in the week ending 4 April. In all, roughly 16 million Americans have lost their jobs since states began to bring in lockdown measures.

• A visual guide to the economic impact of coronavirus

Which countries are on lockdown?

The majority of countries in Europe now have strict lockdowns in place, with many only allowing citizens to leave their homes to buy essential items or exercise. In Paris, authorities banned exercise during the day to reduce the number of people out on the streets.

India told the country’s 1.3 billion residents to stay at home last month and there are similar restrictions on movement and social contact across the world in countries like Argentina, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia and South Africa.

Data on planned journeys in major cities , from the travel app Citymapper, shows how people in places like London, Madrid, Istanbul and New York are now moving around far less than they were a few weeks ago.

The data shows that while Milan in northern Italy has been locked down for several weeks now, many other cities have been restricting movement for a much shorter period.

While movement is also down in the South Korean capital Seoul, the city hasn’t ground to a halt like European capitals despite facing huge numbers of coronavirus cases – a sign of the country’s decision to focus on widespread testing and contact tracing rather than imposing a lockdown.

In Russia, the Kremlin had insisted that there was “de facto no epidemic” in the country but President Putin has urged people to stay at home, which explains the significant drop in movement in Moscow.